LIFE
IN THE FAST LANE
Earlier this month, a WXII TV (in Winston Salem, NC) morning anchor named
Tolly Carr was allegedly driving drunk and killed a pedestrian in the
wee hours of the morning. Here are some details.

Last
week he went before his church for a mea culpa - but many are criticizing
him for a self serving speech asking for support and money. Was he over
the line here? Or is forgiveness called for?

What
a coincidence that the church service was broadcast over the same station
Tolly Carr was employed by? Would he have gotten the same reaction at
your church? It's as sad situation, that's for sure, with two young men's
family's devastated.

SUNDAY
FUNNIES
Gene Sheldon and his Classic Tenor Banjo from an early Jackie Gleason
Show.

Very
funny Foster Brooks routine from a Dean Martin Roast of Lucille
Ball. It's weird how the roasts got tamer as the years went by but this
is one of the early ones and the 'perpetually drunk' comedian is on fire
here.

'Lydia
the Tattooed Lady' sung by Groucho Marx in 1969 from the Dick Cavett
Show. This was one of his classic routines.

TV
ON THE NETJim
Bacon writes in relation to our look at Gumby's 50th anniversary:
"Just thought I’d drop you a note to let you know that
DMGI is digitally distributing Gumby as well as a ton of other
Classic T.V. content. Also, you can let your readers know that 35
Gumby
episodes are available for free viewing."

KING
OF THE COMIC BOOKS
There are so many obscure video & audio clips on this site that have
little or no interest to most people. This clip is one of those.

When
I was a kid I had a crystal radio in my bedroom and I would listen to
stations near and far. One show I particularly enjoyed was an overnight
talk show hosted by a young Bob Lacey in Charlotte.

At
the time I was a big comic book nut so I wrote to Bob Lacey and suggested
some people that might make good interviews. Much to my surprise he had
them on as guests via phone. Artist Carmine Infantino, then the head of
DC Comics, was one I remember - and I recently stumbled upon this recording
of an interview with Phil Seuling.

This
broadcast occurred right after a fellow named Mitchell Mehdy (right) made
national news when he bought Action Comics number one for a little over
$1,800. He was the laughing stock of the nation, but today that single
comic book sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

At
the time of this interview, Phil Seuling was building a very successful
mail order business selling back issues of comic books - something few
people had thought to do before him. He also organized the first New York
comic book convention in 1967; this became a yearly event and a smart
business move that helped make Seuling a very wealthy man.

The
value of classic comics grew by leaps and bounds between 1970 and 1974.
On his salary as an English teacher for the NYC public school system,
Seuling amassed one of the most valuable collections in the world.
In Bob Lacey's interview, Phil talks of buying his first batch of old
comic books and suddenly realizing the potential market.

Seuling
quotes the worth of Big Little Books at five dollars at most - and is
astonished when an old lady calls up to say she was offered ten dollars
each. But then, Phil made a fortune buying comics for next to nothing
and selling them for a mint.

By
the 1980s, Seuling headed a thriving comic book distribution network that
supplied the newly emerging comic book specialty shops around the country
- in the process creating the so-called 'Direct Market' that is the standard
distribution method today.

Phil
Seuling passed away in the 1980s from Liver Cancer.

Today
the interviewer, Bob Lacey, is the co-host of the very popular Bob
and Sheri Show, heard in syndication nationally. This is absolutely
the best morning show out there - I tuned in for several months before
I made the connection that this is the same Bob Lacey I listened to as
a kid.

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Send
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407 Blandwood Ave #4Greensboro,
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By sending your DVD, you are granting TVparty! temporary permission
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hate me if your creation doesn't make the cut.

NYC
LOCAL TV 1966It
might be hard to believe but forty years ago New Yorkers tuned in every
morning to a toddler's birthday party complete with sing-a-longs, animals
and staring into a tropical fish tank. For the time, this was big city
daytime TV at it's finest - and it was surprisingly entertaining, better
than The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, that's for sure.

Lorraine
Goodman shares with us a wonderful find, an episode of Birthday
House from February 1966 starring Paul Tripp, TV's first
child educator. As the producer and star of the critically celebrated
Mr. I. Magination program on the CBS network from 1949 until
1952, he influenced and predated Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers, Sesame
Street and every children's program that followed.

Birthday
House aired live on WNBC 4 Monday through Saturday mornings from
April 1, 1963 until September 8, 1967; it was nationally syndicated for
a while and two best-selling soundtrack albums were released with songs
from the show.

Similar
in tone to Romper Room
but with a birthday party theme, the broadcast was a smash hit with kids
and parents alike thanks to the exemploray talents of Tripp and his spouse,
co-host Ruth Enders Tripp. A creative team since the pioneer days of television,
they were masters of the intimate, seat-of-your-pants nature of live broadcasting.

Each
day one, two or three lucky youngsters were selected from the New York
/ New Jersey viewing area to attend a birthday celebration with their
friends on television. The WNBC studio could only accommodate a dozen
or so children at a time so naturally tickets were highly coveted.

Tom
Tichenor designed, manipulated and voiced the many cheerful puppet characters
and portrayed Strawtop the silent scarecrow doll; Jan Lara and Kay Lande
also appeared in character roles. In 1964, WNBC Channel 4 received a special
citation for Birthday House at the NYC Emmy Awards

The
underlying focus of Birthday House was on learning, however simple
the lesson; this was accomplished with segments like Buzzy the spelling
bee, kids drawing together at a chalk board and a milk drinking game to
encourage good nutrition.

In
this found episode, Paul and his puppet pal Felicia the mouse play around
with a couple of gerbils before Paul strolls to a fish tank where he ad-libs
as the camera lingers on the exotic fish swimming about.

This
is representative of what the NBC flagship station offered for the morning
hours in the nation's number one television market, part of a steady diet
of quality kidvid available around the dial - all day long - with top
talent that included Chuck McCann, Sandy Becker, Officer Joe Bolton and
a legion of other virsatile performers who instilled in their viewers
a sense of fair play, virtue and a love for education.

Here
are some video clips
from the February 1966 episode
of Birthday House
(in Real Player Format):

Paul
greets the kidsClick
here for Real Player Format / Quicktime
Format
This ultra-rare kinescope is missing the theme song (and commercials)
and cropped a bit askew because it was shot directly from the studio
monitor. It picks up with Paul and his elegant co-host Ruth Enders (Tripp)
as they open the show, inviting the children into their musical Birthday
House, an enchanted cottage in the forest.

The
Birthday march, the Spelling Bee, the gerbils and RuthClick
here for Real Player Format / Quicktime
Format
Lorraine Goodman tells us: "I'm the one who's 4 - they called me
'Lorri' back then. My sister is Carrie, the 2 year old who gets all the
special attention and stole the show!"
Is it my imagination or are Paul and the puppet trading double entendres
during the gerbil bit?!?

Another
of the tunes and one of the puppetsClick
here for Real Player Format /Quicktime
FormatThis
episode only exists because someone asked that a kinescope be made, a
film they could take home - which was highly unusual, somebody had some
pull at the TV station!

CHRISTY
ON DVDWe
recently ran a contest for the new DVD release of Christy, The Complete
Series. The show originally aired in 1994 and is a real fan favorite,
judging from the four star rating on Amazon. Here are some video clips
from the show (in Windows Media format).

GEICO
CAVEMAN
So they're giving the Geico cavemen their own sitcom (well, shooting a
pilot anyway). Someone's missing the point - it's the guy PLAYING the
main caveman that is so cool. He's got a terrific career ahead of him
if he doesn't go down in flames with this bad idea. It's the actor's dry
delivery, his stony presence that makes the whole thing work.

QUOTES
"New Rule: Mitt Romney must stop using the state of Massachusetts
as a punchline unless he prefaces it with, 'Y'know the state that is so
horribly liberal I chose to live and raise my family there for the last
30 years...' You don't hear Bush shitting on Texas or Cheney making fun
of Transylvania."
- Bill Maher

"People
are really angry about a web site that encourages people to vote for the
worst singer. This is not a joke. We're voting for the next 'American
Idol' here. This is not some kind of game. I know it was funny when we
reelected President Bush, but this is serious."
- Jimmy Kimmel

BURNETT
BURNED
From You Tube, this is the Family Guy segment that Carol Burnett
is hot over.

Quite
frankly, is there a worse show on TV than Family Guy? It sucks from the
first moment to the last, so derivative of The Simpsons it's
impossible for me to watch. Every freakin' reference gets a freakin' flashback
or visual aside. It's so annoyingly formulaic that I would assume only
maroons could watch it - except some of my best friends love it and they're
smart people. So I don't get it.

Poorly
drawn, sloppily animated - and Carol Burnett didn't tug her ear as a sign
to her mom, it was her grandmother who raised her, that's who she was signaling.

From
the 2000's: Kevin Butler is possibly the nation's number 1 expert
on NYC TV kid shows. He was also a regular on Alf's Hit Talk Show
on TV Land, a pretty darn good program. Here are some highlights from
Kevin's comic bits.

From
the 1990's: Bloopers from Dallas with Larry Hagman and
Linda Gray. (I'm cheating here - the outtakes are from the 1980s but Dallas
lasted into the 1990s so...)

From the 1980's: Every once in a while someone writes
and asks about that crazy syndicated sitcom called Small Wonder,
the story of a robotic little girl and her typical suburban family. Was
this show literally made for 5 year olds? It was very popular, as I recall.

THIS
IS WEIRD
Comedian Carol Burnett has filed a copyright infringement suit against
the makers of Fox TV's cartoon sitcom "Family Guy" over an episode
poking fun at the performer and her variety show from the 1960s and '70s.
Link.

Can
you imagine in our fast paced TV culture a comedian taking the time to
set up and deliver a story like this one, a full 6 minutes long? Certainly
couldn't happen in prime time today - or late night either. That was one
of the charms of The New Bill Cosby Show.

POLITICS
AND POKER
What do I think of the prosecutor scandal on Capital Hill you ask? You
didn't ask, I know. Why would you? What the hell do I know except what
I read - although I read a lot, from all sides of the spectrum.

What
I think is that something big is going to come along and knock it out
of the media sandbox.

PROGRAM
NOTES
If Fox can have success with Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader,
NBC should package a one hour special with the best of The Tonight Show's
hilarious 'Jaywalking' segments, where Jay Leno finds empty
headed LA residents and asks them the simplest of questions.

I
love South Park - it's so cool that the show hasn't lost it's
edge after more than a decade. Who would have guessed? I'm even looking
forward to the movie this summer. At least I think its this summer, I'm
too lazy to find out. In
this clip from this week's episode, Cartman 'goes gay' in
a satire on the Jesus Camp crazies.

Another
TV cartoon will be coming to the big screen on April 13th - Aqua
Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film. Remember the big deal
the officials in Boston made over those clever light box devices they
mistook for bombs? How dumb can you get? Now we'll find out if the steep
fines Cartoon Network and their ad agency paid because of the city's hissy
fit will result in a public relations bonanza for the movie. I just hope
the film doesn't suck! Here's
the teaser trailer. They've got a hell of a great print campaign
- is that Boris Vallejo that did the painting for the poster? Or Earl
Norem?

If
you're a fan of American Idol (not me), sitcom
writer extraordinaire Ken Levin provides
the best episode recaps. Check it. I'd rather read his recaps
than watch the show itself. Here's one of his money quotes: "Could
they pad the show any more? Christ! It was so long Paula’s drugs
were wearing off."

One
of my favorite shows, Reno 911, returns to Comedy Central on
April 1st. The question is, given that the movie tanked and got such horrible
reviews (like, it wasn't funny, stuff like that) could the TV series still
be entertaining? Well, I'm happy to say, the show is as hilarious as ever.
On the upcoming April Fool's Day episode, the Reno Sheriffs accepts a
sponsorship from a Hooters-like business. Believe it or not, the plotline
is pulled from real life - police departments around the U.S. are considering
allowing business logos on the squad cars to provide extra income. This
episode points out the inherent absurdity of the idea and the possible
pitfalls.

WHAT
I'M WATCHING
I recently viewed a few episodes of Fernwood 2night taped
from Nick at Nite a couple of decades ago. The show originally
aired in the mid-seventies. I thought so then - and I still believe it
- that F2N was the funniest show ever made for TV. Mary Hartman,
Mary Hartman is coming to DVD soon, we can only hope Fernwood/America
2night will follow.

Dark
Shadows - Bloopers and Treasures
This is a good one for Dark Shadows fans (count me as one). Not
for the 'Bloopers' which are actually just missed cues and line flubs
- more embarrassing to look at than funny. In fact, they aren't funny
at all, just painful to watch. Dark Shadows was a soap opera
shot in the manner of the day - that is, they performed the show as if
it were broadcast live, with very few retakes ever.

That
said, there is a lot to like about this DVD release. Game show
fans will cheer at the segments from Generation Gap with guests
Jonathan Frid and other DS notables. I wish they had included
whole episodes, but this is the first I've seen of this rare, short-lived
daytime game. We also see Frid, Joan Bennett and 'The Wolfman' in segments
from three episodes What's My Line from 1970 with Soupy Sales,
Gene Rayburn & Sandy Baron.

Another
great feature - tunes from the Dark Shadows soundtrack album
that I owned as a kid. This was a beautifully produced album; the DVD
producers have created music videos from the songs and they work quite
well. Lara Parker (Angelique on DS) takes you on a tour of Salem,
MA and there are some promo spots and behind the scenes video. I enjoyed
this very much.

By
the way, MPI has the entire Dark Shadows series out on DVD now.

Comedy
Central Roast of William Shatner
Bwwaaaaaa haaaaaa haaaa haaaa - that's the sound of me busting a gut!
This is the most howlingly funny DVD I've watched in a long time, an extended
and uncensored version of what was aired earlier this year and it's raunchy
and raw. This is no Dean Martin style roast, that's for sure.

Jason
Alexander hosts, with celebrity roasters Artie Lange, Nichelle Nichols,
Patton Oswald, Lisa Lampenelli (who gets grilled as harshly as Shatner),
Kevin Pollack, Betty White, Fred Willard, George Takei and others. Oh
yes, the infamous, out of control, disgusting Andy Dick is on hand as
well; you may have read about his performance, it made the news it was
so over the top.

There
are also bonus features that give you a behind the scenes look at shooting
the special and Red Carpet video. Seriously funny!

The
Addams Family - Volume 2
20th Century Fox has decided to release the two seasons of The Addams
Family in three sets. Fair enough. This volume gives you episodes
The Last NYC Local Kid Shows from season one and the first episodes of season two for
a total of 21 episodes so this would be the DVD set I'd recommend if you're
considering buying only one. Of course, true fans will want all three
volumes, right?

One
stand out feature on these this discs is the commentary one one episode
by Steve Cox who wrote the book about the show. I mentioned Steve's excellent
commentary on The Beverly Hillbillies a while back on this Blog
and his ruminations here are incisive and entertaining, full of fascinating
facts and trivia. I wanted more! The added 'commentaries' on several episodes
by Thing and Cousin Itt are as irritating and unnecessary as they are
bizarre. Why not have more of Steve Cox? I could sit and listen to his
stories all day.

There's
also a mini-documentary on the show that features AF experts
and the show's star John Astin, who looks great by the way. I'm glad to
see he's still working but why isn't he seen more on TV? The packaging
is very attractive and the prints are pristine; it's almost like watching
the show for the first time. Classic TV lovers should be very pleased
with this brand new release.

No
Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Martin Scorsese. Bob Dylan. What's not to like? This film. I couldn't
get through it. I tried twice, in spite of some spectacular clips of artists
like Odetta, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and other influential artists.
Maybe I'll try again.

The
Loop Season One
This one's new to DVD this week, a 2006 sitcom is aimed at a much younger
demo than I'm a part of but there are lots of scenes with young hotties
in various states of undress so I don't mind a bit.

You
know how it's been tradition for a couple of decades that up and coming
attractive actresses MUST appear in their underwear in at least one scene
in a movie? These days it's the guys who are required to strip down (why
is that?). The lead in this sitcom was down to his skivvies in the first
minute of the first episode - heck, he appears in boxers on the DVD cover.

This
show's been compared to Arrested Development (hated it!) and
I have to confess the more I watched the more I liked it. It's peppy and
moves at a crisp pace; I also have the feeling that there's a dedicated
staffer on the show that does nothing but come up with sexual euphemisms.
Douche out? Meat stick? Pound your porcupine?

Savage
Earth
MPI Video has released a collection of Savage Earth TV documentaries.
Entries include The Restless Planet, a look at earthquakes, one of which
I lived through myself (L.A. in 1994) and the footage here is stunning.
Also on hand: Hell's Crust and Out of the Inferno (volcanoes), Waves of
Destruction (floods). These were originally broadcast on PBS, narrated
by Stacey Keach who seems to have fallen into a second career as the preferred
voice of documentaries. This one hits the stores on April 24th.

WILL
YOU HEAR ABOUT
THIS
ON THE EVENING NEWS?Here's
a stunning assessment of the veterans medical crisis we're
entering into. Some lowlights:
• took between 127 to 177 days to process an initial claim and an
average of 657 days to process an appeal, resulting in significant hardship
to veterans. In contrast, the private sector industry takes about 89.5
days to process a claim.
• had a claims backlog of roughly 600,000.
• will see 638,000 new first-time claims in the next five years
because of the Iraq war -- 400,000 by the end of 2009 -- creating added
costs of between $70 billion and $150 billion.
• had antiquated technology for processing claims, such as unreliable
old fax machines

From
Corrente Wire:
The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush’s promise
to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed
defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own
expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents
obtained by The Associated Press.

The
2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never
pressed into action. But the Corps and [MWI,] the politically connected
manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty
pumps working properly.

The
pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration,
Corps officials said. Other problems have included overheated engines,
broken hoses and blown gaskets, according to the documents obtained by
the AP.

And
guess what the political connection was?

MWI
is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner
of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed
MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast
majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Center
for Responsive Politics.

Alan
K. Simpson:
As a lifelong Republican who served in the Army in Germany, I believe
it is critical that we review -- and overturn -- the ban on gay service
in the military. I voted for "don't ask, don't tell." But much
has changed since 1993.

My
thinking shifted when I read that the military was firing translators
because they are gay. According to the Government Accountability Office,
more than 300 language experts have been fired under "don't ask,
don't tell," including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. This
when even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently acknowledged the
nation's "foreign language deficit" and how much our government
needs Farsi and Arabic speakers. Is there a "straight" way to
translate Arabic? Is there a "gay" Farsi? My God, we'd better
start talking sense before it is too late.

IS
THAT A MICHCROPHONE IN YOUR
HAND TO SING YOUR LAST NUMBER?
Did you hear the one about the American Idol contestant
that forcibly masturbated to a staff member of the program? Mario Vasquez
allegedly followed a male AI staffer into the bathroom and tried
to get jiggy with it.
Speculation has it that this was the reason Vasquez dropped out of the
competition unexpectedly two years ago when he held such promise (well,
when he wasn't inappropriately holding his throbbing boyhood).

Now
the staffer (who was fired) wants major bucks from Vasquez and everyone
else associated with the show. I don't watch American Idol myself
but I can't help but wonder how come this kind of thing never happens
to me? I mean, in a situation where I could end up with millions of dollars
from the experience instead of a few thousand stem cells to mop up.

Seriously
though, how messed up would you have to be to pull a stunt like this when
you've been given the opportunity of a lifetime to advance the career
of your dreams. All he had to do was wait until he had a few weeks of
exposure on America's top rated TV show to get freaky - then there would
be a line of eager participants queued around the stall for him. This
is Hollywood after all.

Anyone with more than half a brain knows that Fox News
is an arm of the Republican party. Not that there's anything wrong with
that, if they would only acknowledge it One day staffers will write tell
all books about what goes on behind the scenes, I'm sure. Here's
a nice set of screen captures that illustrates that point,
my favorite below was from the last election day.